The Conservation Report

More wildfires rage in California
(14 Nov. 08)
Video: Fires Rage In Montecito

Video: Fire Destroys 100 Homes, Injures 4 in SoCal Town

More than 100 homes destroyed in wealthy California enclave… Rob Lowe: Flames were ’shooting 200 feet’… Wildfire threat to home of Oprah Winfrey… Water conservation urged in Cal wildfire area…

Blog Action Day 2008 is happening at The Conservation Report
(15 Oct. 08)

Poverty affects the environment… Poverty, over-consumption, and the bushmeat trade…

Wildfires threaten Los Angeles
(14 Oct. 08)

Image via Flickr.

Huge wildfires force frantic evacuations in LA… High winds fuel wildfires near Los Angeles… Mayor: Thank God for our firefighters… In pictures: LA wildfires …

Wildfires burn in Napa Valley and northeast of Los Angeles
(13 Oct. 08)

Image via Flickr.

Spark from car hitting rock caused Napa wildfire… US wildfires threaten wineries in Napa Valley… Low humidity, dry weather, and strong winds promulgate Napa Valley wildfires… Wildfire in Napa County contained after burning 300 acres… Fire consumes 750 acres near Los Angeles… Winds a major concern for firefighters…

House loans Detroit’s big three $25 billion

Passes the House… Automakers may get another $25 billion in loans over the next three years… Big three suppose to use loans to retool manufacturing plants that can produce more fuel efficient cars… Boondoggle…

Congress to let offshore drilling ban expire

Ends a 26-year ban on offshore drilling… Will not lead to new drilling anytime soon… Will take some years before leases are granted and the next president can block any offshore drilling… John McCain and Sarah Palin’s “Drill, baby, drill” mantra will not alleviate high gas prices… Congress will not share federal royalties with the states… Comment by Frances Beinecke, President, Natural Resources Defense Council… Comment by Dan Weiss, Senior Fellow and Director of, Climate Strategy, Center for American Progress… Some highlights of energy bill HR 6899…

NOAA Fisheries Service release $100 million in salmon disaster aid for West Coast fishermen

IMAGE uploaded by redakuma

West coast states to share aid based on economic impact… Aid developed by Pacific States Marine Fishery Commission

Recent natural disasters cause America to burn, drown

Floods leave Iowa swimming in toxic brew: Sewage, farm chemicals, animal waste infest water; potential levee breaks loom… Iowa flooding leaves parts of Cedar Rapids and Des Moines under water… Looks like Katrina… Northern California wildfires destroy homes, force thousands to evacuate… Southern New Jersey gets a whiff of North Carolina, Virginia fires… Florida fire danger not over with rain season; U.S. Drought Monitor still reports areas as having severe drought conditions…

US experts, activists slam Bush opposition to climate change bill

IMAGE by net_efekt

The science of denial… President Bush misled America about the science of global warming and about the economics of taking action… NASA ‘played down’ global warming to protect Bush… President Bush misled America about the science of global warming and about the economics of taking action… “The country has to realize, however, that it will have to pay a price to clean up the carbon emissions mess that the Bush administration has chosen to ignore.”…

Rockefellers seek change at Exxon Mobil Corp. and want to move beyond oil

IMAGE by George Osodi

Shareholder rebellion… Heavyweight investors join Rockefeller rebellion at Exxon Mobil Corp… Challenges Exxon Mobil Corp. to focus more on renewable energy sources, establish task force to study consequences of climate change and reduce emissions…

Environmental Protection Agency head reversed stand on greenhouse gas after White House interference: report

Consumers being denied the right to purchase cleaner and more fuel efficient cars…

The political ecology of Burma

Satellite photos from NASA illustrate the saturation of the Irrawaddy delta by Cyclone Nargis on May 5, 2008 (bottom). The before image was taken on April 15, 2008 (top).

Mangroves would have protected villagers… …”mangrove forests around Myanmar’s Irrawady Delta had degraded because of “overexploitation” and the conversion of land for rice fields — promoted by the government as a way to ensure self-sufficiency in food production….” “‘If you look at the path of the one that hit Myanmar, it hit exactly where it was going to do the most damage, and it’s doing the most damage because much of the protective vegetation was cleared,’ [Jeff NcNeely, chief scientist for the International Union for Conservation of Nature] said. ‘You just wonder why governments don’t get on this’….” Myanmar cyclone a “catastrophe” for wildlife….

UPDATE: Gas jumps above $3.67, oil passes $126 on Venezuela concerns

Oil prices rise to record near $123 a barrel on prediction of $200 oil, supply concerns.

Image by azrainman via Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Gas pushses above $3.67 a gallon, while oil passes $126 on Venezuela supply concerns… …”A new Goldman Sachs prediction that oil prices could rise to $150 to $200 within two years seemed to motivate much of Tuesday’s buying, although a falling dollar and increasing concerns about declining crude production in Mexico and Russia contributed, analysts say…” Indonesia may leave OPEC in 2009 as oil output drops… Nigeria oil rebels pledge truce if former U.S. President Jimmy Carter mediates… Clinton, Obama keep up gas-tax sparring match…

EPA official that put pressue on Dow Chemical to clean up dioxin contamination ousted

…“resigned after two aides to national EPA administrator Stephen Johnson took away her powers as regional administrator and told her to quit or be fired by June 1….” Gade’s work had won praise….

Bush administration violated the law by missing deadline for a final polar bear decision

Image by exfordy via Flickr and a Creative Commons license

Huge victory for polar bears and the Center for Biological Diversity…. “Interior Department has violated a legal deadline for deciding whether to list the polar bear as an endangered species because of global warming and must act by mid-May, a federal judge has ruled, putting species protection on a collision course with the Bush administration’s push for oil drilling off Alaska….” Narwhal more at risk from warming than polar bear?….

Rising food prices becoming global problem

Image by georgereyes via Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Bush Administration has “golden opportunity” to help solve the global food crisis…. Rising food prices becoming global problem, says UN…. U.N. agency faces “heartbreaking” food aid choices…. “a small shift toward a plant-based diet in developed countries would free up enough land, water, and fuel to feed everyone. More than 80 per cent of U.S. agricultural land grows animal feed. A plant-based diet requires only 16 to 20 per cent of the resources of the standard American diet….”

House passes bill to treat ballast water on ships

Ships entering U.S. waters must now treat their ballast water to kill potential invasive species…. Environmentalists score a win…. On an overwhelming “vote of 395-7, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Coast Guard funding bill that contained language requiring some freighters to disinfect ballast water tanks beginning next year….” Zebra mussels, an invasive species brought to the U.S. by ships cause great economic damage….

Bush speaks about his concerns over rush to fix global warming

“Bush will speak forcefully about concerns he has over a possible rush to address the Earth’s warming through a hodgepodge of regulations under existing federal laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act….” NOAA: ‘WARMEST MARCH EVER OVER LAND’… Record heat for land surfaces in March….” Data shows that America’s jet stream creeping north, a phenomenon predicted by climate models that illustrated with global warming the world’s jet streams would move north….” Greenland ice sheet released huge volume of freshwater…. Polar bear decision delay meant to protect oil leases?….”

Where is the “Environmental Protection” in the Environmental Protection Agency?

Senators rip EPA over lack of knowledge on drugs in water…”for allowing the American public to learn that traces of pharmaceuticals are in much of the nation’s drinking water from an Associated Press investigative series, not the federal government….” The New York Times not the EPA discovered that sushi from Manhattan restaurants had mercury levels so high that the Food and Drug Administration could remove the fish from the market if it wanted… EPA is missing in action on major environmental issues, observers charge…

Arctic drilling is alive!

North Pacific right whale in the Bering Sea. Image by John Durban, NMML

Critically endangered North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica) habitat proposed for oil development… National Marine Fisheries Service forced to come up with recovery plan for North Pacific right whale after being sued by the Center for Biological Diversity… “area had been protected from drilling since 1990, but the Bush administration lifted the ban last year…. “US seeks comment on possible Bering Sea drilling… “Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service on Tuesday announced it is launching an environmental review of possible offshore oil and gas drilling in the salmon-rich area of Bristol Bay, where energy exploration was temporarily banned following the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989….” Arctic fantasies need reality check… global warming does not change the challenges of drilling for Arctic oil because the geology of the region does not change… area still too risky and costs to high to justify drilling for oil…

New York’s House of Assembly kills congestion tax

“The charges were estimated to raise $US491 million a year and were to begin on March 31 next year”… Anger and regret over the end of the congestion tax… Commuters show mixed reactions… Bloomberg personally blamed… “Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg lashed out at the leadership of the Democratic-controlled New York State Assembly for refusing to bring his New York City congestion pricing plan to a vote”… Porsche challenges London congestion charge… Maryland’s House Economic Matters Committee kills global warming bill…

Congress asks big oil to justify big profits

IMAGE: A fisher inspects a dead California gray whale after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. (John Gaps III/AP Photo)

Oil companies defend huge record profits to a hostile Congress…Exxon Mobil posts largest profit in U.S. history at $40.6 billion… but refuses to pay punitive damages for Exxon Valdez Oil Spill…President Bush supports tax breaks for oil companies… Oil companies claim huge profits pays for future oil development…but rejects higher taxes… Clinton and Obama campaigning in Pennsylvania, visiting gas stations and truck stops to convince voters they can solve soaring gas prices and Big Oil profits… More problem oil spills as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is forced to take over cleanup of spill in Santa Barbara County after the responsible party, Greka Oil & Gas Inc. fails to clean up its mess… IMAGES of crude realities: oil production, politics and violence…
Will the Earth’s ecosystems “melt” into a grey goo or be destroyed by some other technological advancement?

‘Black hole’ machine could destroy planet: lawsuit… “According to Friends of the Earth, more than 100 products available in the UK - antibacterials, agricultural chemicals, baby food - contain nanoparticles, and no one knows how toxic they might prove”… “Some of the threats identified are more speculative, such as robots that imitate animal behaviour and microbes made from synthetic molecules and might eventually behave like invasive species”… Competition with Nature’s organisms and predation in addition to entropy might prevent future runaway replicators from taking hold… The Grey goo theory…

World grain prices soar

Photo by Jonathan Talbot, World Resources Institute. 2004

“Rice farmers here are staying awake in shifts at night to guard their fields from thieves. In Peru, shortages of wheat flour are prompting the military to make bread with potato flour, a native crop. In Egypt, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso food riots have broken out in the past week”…. Mysterious discrepancies in grain prices baffle experts… Beijing to spend more on agriculture to curb inflation and avoid social unrest before the Beijing Olympics… Vietnam & India curb rice exports as prices double to combat food inflation…

Bush Administration’s environmental policies benefit corporations and not the environment. Expect more of the same if McCain elected as president

Since 2001, guarding species is harder…lawsuits key to protecting species under the Bush Administration…Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton added an average of 58 and 62 species to the endangered species list each year…All together in seven years Bush Administration has placed 59 domestic species on the endangered list… Bush interfered in setting smog standards… Legacy of this Bush will linger…like a stench in the air… McCain talks tough on global warming but has a very poor environmental record… McCain votes with polluters and special interests instead of consumers and the planet… McCain’s plan to cap greenhouse gases doesn’t go as far as proposals from Democratic presidential candidates, Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois…

Chinook salmon vanish without a trace

IMAGE of Chinook Salmon or Oncorhynchus tshawytscha from the USGS

Factors such as changes in hatchery operations, disruption of food species, dams or diversions of fresh water, habitat degradation, loss, fragmentation, pollution and the abundance of predator species such as sea lions have all contributed to the decline of salmon species in the last century… Chinook salmon fishery may be closed from Oregon to the Mexican border…

Two female North Atlantic right whales spotted with rope tangled in mouths

IMAGE from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies: Taken under NOAA permit 932-1489, with the authority of the US MMPA

Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies: rope no immediate threat… Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies have disentangled female North Atlantic right whales that later reproduced but NOAA possibly cutting key budget for Center’s disentanglement program… death of a female is particularly devastating because reproductive potential is lost…

Foot-dragging over fuel rules alleged

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) says efforts to regulate CO₂ emissions halted… Environmental Protection Agency recommended raising automobile fuel economy standards based on assessment that carbon dioxide emissions threaten the public’s health and welfare… Bush administration has taken no action
… White House blocked efforts by the EPA to impose tougher limits on tailpipe emissions… BUT EPA blocked stricter emissions standards in California… Your Prius or Ford Escape Hybrid could get 120 MPG… The hydrogen economy…

The ethanol & methanol debate

Study: cellulosic ethanol not likely viable… Corn-based ethanol could worsen “dead zone” since fertilizer run-off causes unnatural algae blooms that disrupt the oxygen cycle… Tractors and fertilizer still needed - stuck in the petroleum age… Pacific Ethanol, Inc. announces delay in reporting fourth quarter and year end 2007 results… Bacterial enzymes can turn waste into ethanol for a lot less money and without the adverse influences on the human food chain… The ethanol scam… What about methanol?…

Prescription drugs including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones found in the drinking water used by tens of millions of Americans

Utilities say water is safe… Scientists worried about very bad long-term consequences of people’s health who drink it… Reverse osmosis treatment a solution… Estrogen in water causing male fish to become feminized… Wastewater treatment systems and policies a problem… City councils all over America move for bottled water ban… Bottled water contains pharmaceutical residues too… Pharmaceuticals in drinking water: are they of concern?… Illinois Environmental Protection Agency expanding its water-quality monitoring to determine the possible presence of pharmaceuticals…